BLYZNIUKY — Only 15 kilometers separate the Ukrainian village of Blyzniuky from the territories under Russian occupation in the Donbas region. When Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the local community fled the village en masse.
But that trend has now been reversed, and Blyzniuky’s population is today five times larger than before the invasion — going from 1,000 to 5,000 inhabitants, 950 of which are children. It’s a consequence of the village’s strategic position, connecting the center of Ukraine and the Donbas, but also of a series of incentives put in place by the local administration to attract people fleeing their homes, welcoming internally displaced Ukrainians.
[shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box]
“When the invasion began, we did everything we could to welcome our fellow citizens coming from the areas around Kramatorsk and Zaporizhzhia,” says Korol Stepanovych, 55, Blyzniuky’s mayor since 2006. His administrative district has grown since his first mandate — to now include 98 villages — and today, with war only a few kilometers away, it has become a major focal point for Ukrainian military maneuvers.
“We started preparing for a similar scenario in 2014, with hundreds of people inevitably transiting through our territory,” Stepanovych. Blyzniuky notably has an orthopedic hospital specialized in the care of the war wounded, which is the closest to the front line in this part of Ukraine.
People should always be a priority
As part of the integration process incentivized by the local administration, displaced people have not only found a place to live but also work opportunities. As the mayor explains, many specialized workers, including electricians, plumbers, teachers and doctors, moved out in the first months following the full-scale invasion. “We have allocated extra funds dedicated to hosting, amounting to around 100,000 hryvnia [2,300 euros] for housing.”
Local efforts have focused on attracting the displaced because “people are important for development and should always be a priority,” Stepanovych says. Anyone who decides to settle in the district for a minimum of 10 years can buy property, stimulating economic and urban development through the renovation of abandoned buildings, a direct consequence of the war.
After 2022, the refugee influx has become massive.
But welcoming those who lost everything has sometimes been a source of unexpected twists. Bohdan Oleksandrovych, 24, is part of Stepanovych’s entourage and is originally from Kharkiv, yet another area severely affected by the conflict.
“The community was already used to internal displacement in 2014, but after 2022, the influx has become massive. It wasn’t easy at the beginning; people were a bit scared. But it didn’t take them long to settle, creating a series of new opportunities that have reassured even the most skeptical ones.”
The importance of learning together
The community center is among the numerous symbols of this integration process. It was opened inside a recently restored library, with accessible spaces equipped for the village’s children. The center receives support from AVSI, an Italian NGO implementing cooperation projects around the world. The NGO’s support is part of the project “Prospect — Holistic Response Program: Health, Protection, Education in Territorial Centers,” itself financed by the Italian cooperation and development agency (AICS) through a €46.5 million fund dedicated to Ukraine.
“When the center opened in 2023, we needed to convince people to come because everyone was a bit wary,” Oleksandrovych remembers. Today, the situation has radically changed. “People always ask us to organize more events and to expand our network of contacts and associations around Europe,” he adds.
One of the biggest benefits the community center has brought to the Blyzniuky community concerns children’s education.
Many people in this community need psychological support, both kids and parents.
With schools closed due to the war, the spaces managed by AVSI staff and a number of local partners represent the only element of continuity with life before the invasion. Thanks to an air raid shelter with all the equipment required to welcome students during school time and for recreational activities, it offers a safe environment where children can gather and engage in activities together.
“Attending classes with your peers and having a room where you can play once you’re done with homework allows kids to maintain some hope and a semblance of normality,” says Gabriele Salemme, AVSI’s project manager in Ukraine.
The community center allows students to attend classes in person, allowing the local school to re-open after four years and offering teachers the opportunity to develop informal education techniques, as foreseen by a recent reform of the education system.
But school is not only about books. Not being able to attend classes in person has made kids less capable of interacting even physically with their peers. A natural gesture like holding hands becomes, for those that have spent a long time away from school, an obstacle that is difficult to overcome. For this reason, Salemme says, “Teachers are supported by a team of psychologists and social workers, who collaborate to offer overarching support to kids and their development.”
Providing psychological support
Elyzaveta Plotnykova, 21, holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, and she started working at the center in November 2023, while also pursuing a Master’s degree.
“Many people in this community need psychological support, both kids and parents,” she says. For this reason, the center organizes group activities, like listening desks and training sessions to improve communication skills.
“With classes we work through different steps: during the first phase we observe and try to spot collective and individual problems,” Plotnykova says. “We deal with many kids who tend to isolate because they are scared of integration and becoming part of a group, but socialization is also an issue that touches adults, and we often spot it inside families as well.”
There are numerous examples of difficulties that are deeply rooted in previous traumas — often tied to the loss of someone at the front.
“Explaining war means teaching and processing experiences that are traumatic more often than not,” says Plotnykova, stressing that as the front line moves deeper into Ukrainian territory, a new wave of displacements could be triggered, creating more need for support.
Tanya and Natsya
Tanya, 35, lost her husband at the front last January. She is among the most frequent visitors of the community center, and her daughter Nastya will start kindergarten there this year.
“My daughter is very enthusiastic for all the activities taking place here, and it is only thanks to the staff that followed her since the first day. Since her father’s death she has become more closed off, but the therapists helped her to not be scared of the others and open up,” Tanya says.
Nastya walks around the center wearing her dad’s military hat. “She was scared of soldiers before, of the idea of going to the cemetery and even eating her dad’s favorite candies,” says her mom, who along Nastya went through a grief process specifically structured by the center based on their needs.
A places like the Blyzniuky community center, children can breathe some serenity.
“My daughter now attends all the activities organized at the center, she dances and is always busy with her new friends. When I think about the first days of the war, the fear I saw in the eyes of children is not there anymore, and that is without a doubt also thanks to a place like the Blyzniuky community center, where they can breathe some serenity,” says Tanya.
She tries to look on the bright side in a difficult situation, in a place torn by a war to which no end seems to be in sight. “Doesn’t matter how much we try, as adults we live in fear and we never manage to calm down, especially because we fear for our kids.”
From hosting activities to the support offered to the local community, Blyzniuky is an example of positivity. While those at the front fight to escape death, in the rear there is an entire population that puts in place any instrument deemed necessary to grant peace to future generations.
